Amalgamator



R. HAN sSEN, P. B. HAUG AND M. E. DARBY.

AMALGAMATOR.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. H. 1919.

Patented Dec. 7, 1920.

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AMALGAMATOR.

APPLICATION'FILED FEB. 11. 1919.

1,361,723. I Patented Dec. 7, 1920.

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RALPH I-IANSSEN AND PEDER B. HAUG, OF GREAT FALLS, MONTANA, AND MARTIN E. DARBY, OF TACOMA, WASHINGTON.

AMALGAMATOR.

Application filed February 11, 1919.

T 0 all whom it may concern Be it known that we, RALPH HANSSEN, PEDER B. HAUG, and MARTIN E. DARBY, all citizens of the United States, the said HANS- SEN and HAUG residing at Great Falls, in the county'of' Cascade and State of Montana, and the said DARBY residing at Tacoma, in the county of Pierce and State of Washington, have invented new and useful Improvements in Amalgamators, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a novel construction of a centrifugal amalgamator, and the principal object of the invention is to provide a vertical wall of mercury with means for forcing the gold bearing material up through the same.

Another object of the invention is to pro vide means for agitating the material in its passage along the mercury wall so as to re deem every particle of the gold in a mini mum amount of time.

Another object of the invention is to provide shelves for collecting the amalgam in an upper pocket for receiving the richest amalgam after the shelves are filled.

The invention also consists in certain other features and in the construction and arrangement of the several parts, to be hereinafter fully described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings and specifically pointed out in the appended claims.

In describing my invention in detail, reference will be had to the accompanying drawings wherein like characters denote like or corresponding parts throughout the sev eral views, and in which:

Figure 1 is a vertical section with the parts in elevation.

Fig. 2 is a cross section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section through a portion of the outer cylinder.

Fig. 4 is a detail view.

In these views, 1 indicates the outer casing provided with a base plate 2, a sub-base 3 and a top plate 4. The base 2 is provided with a centrally located socket 5 for receiving the end of the shaft 6 and the sub-base 3 is provided with a hub 7 for said shaft. This hub and socket are provided with ball bearings 8. A pulley 9 is connected with the.

shaft and the lower part of the casing is provided with an opening 10 through which the belt passes to said pulley. The belt is Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 7, 1920.

Serial No. 276,365.

driven by any suitable source of power. A collar 11 is secured to the shaft and said collar engages with the lower face of the hub to prevent upward movement of said shaft.

An annular partition 12 is placed in the casing with its bottom of semi-circular form and connected with the interior walls of the casing. This partition forms a chamber 13 for receiving the tailings. The bottom of this chamber is inclined so as to direct the tailings to an outlet opening 14, formed in the casing. The curved bottom of the chamber adjacent said opening is located below the opening and a curved pipe 15v has one end connected with said bottom at its lowest point and its other end passing through the casing. This pipe is for receiving the amalgam that escapes from the centrifugal device.

The rotary elements consist of an outer 7 The lower end of the outer cylinder is closed and is provided with a socket 20 to receive the upper end of the shaft 6. The cylinder is secured to said shaft by means of a ring 21 bolted to the cylinder and having a key 22 engaging a slot formed in the shaft. The

inner face of the bottom of the outer cylinder is provided with a cone projection 23 which projects into the lower end of the pipe '18 for directing the incoming ore evenly to The inner the sides of the outer cylinder. cylinder is supported in the outer cylinder by means of a flange 24, formed at the upper end of the inner cylinder which is provided with holes to receive the bolts 25,

which engage lugs 26 spaced around the curved top 27 of the outer cylinder. Thus a space is left between the upper parts of the two cylinders for the escape of the tailings to the tailing chamber. The curved top 27 of the outer cylinder is provided with a downwardly extending lip 28 which extends over the top of the partition 12.

We prefer to make the outer cylinder of slightly tapered form with its upper end of smaller diameter than its' lower end. In this Ball bearings 80 also prefer to form the outer cylinder in three parts, said parts being provided with 5 horizontal flanges 29, which are bolted together and the meeting edges of the parts are tongued and grooved, as shown. curved top of the outer cylinder is provided with an inwardly extending and downwardly curved annular flange 30, which forms a pocket 31 at the top of the outer cylinder, the mouth of the pocket being di rected downwardly. The inner walls of the outer cylinder are provided with vertically extending ribs 32, which extend from the mouth of the pocket to a point adjacent the bottom of the outer cylinder. The said cylinder is also provided with horizontal rifiles 33, located between the ribs. These riilles form shelves andas will be seen the shelves at the bottom of the cylinder are of greater width than those at the top. The rifiles are constructed so as to be twice as long as they are deep and they are of less depth than the depth of the ribs. WVe prefer to. arrange the ribs in pairs on the three sections of the cylinder with the ribs on the center section alternating with the ribs on the other sections. vBy this staggered arrangement of the ribs a smooth wall of mercury is produced.

The inner cylinder is provided with a spiral tapering worm thread 34, which is in-. terru-pt/ed at frequent intervals, as shown,

and the thread gradually decreases in size toward the top.

Sufiicient mercury is placed between the cylinders to fill the spaces between the ribs when the parts are rotated so as to provide a 40 vertical wall of mercury, the circumference of which will be level with the tips of the ribs The ore to be separated is fed into the upper end of the pipe 18. This material will strike the cone 23' and will be thrown by centrifugal force against the wall of mercury- As'it moves upwardly the interrupted worm threads on'the inner cylinder will facilitate its upward movement and at the same time will agitate the material, so that all particles will be subjected to the action of the device.- The heavy amalgam will remain at thev bottom and will be caught by theshelvcs. The richest amalgam will be caught by the pocket after the riflies or shelvesare filled. The tailings will be discharged into the; tailing chamber and-will ass fromthe machine to the opening 14. he amalgam that escapes from'the machine maybe recovered through the pipe 15. Having. described the invention, what is claimed i'sJ...

1. An amalgamator-of the class described comprising an oute-r and an inner-cylinder I paeadwapartz mean f r eding' e he :-bott0Ia-- OM1 pace- The the two cylinders, the upper ends of the cylinders being spaced apart to form an outlet opening, an annular pocket formed at the upper end of the outer cylinder below the outlet opening, said pocket having its upper. end closed and its lower end open and mercury supporting means on the walls of the outer cylinder below the pocket, such means consisting of horizontally arranged riflies and vertically arranged ribs.

2. An amalgamator of the class described comprising an inner and outer cylinder, means for feeding the material to the bottom of the space between the two cylinders, outwardly extended flanges 011 the upper ends of the cylinders spaced apart to form an outlet opening, an inwardly and downwardly curved annular flange at the upper end of the outer cylinder forming a pocket, riflles on the inner wall of said outer cylinder, vertically extending ribs on said wall having their upper'ends located adjacent the mouth of thepocket, a worm thread on the innerv cylinder and means for rotating the cylinders.

3. An amalgamator of the class described comprising a casing, a shaft journaled in the lower portion thereof, an outer cylinder having its lower end closed and connected with said shaft, an inner cylinder, aninlet pipe for feeding the material to the space between the bottoms of the cylinders, outwardly curved flanges at the upper ends of said cylinders, means for connecting said flanges together in spaced relation, a partition in said casing forming a tailing chamber for receiving the material passing from between the flanges, horizontally arranged riflies on the inner wall of the outer cylin der, the riflles at the bottom of the cylinder being of greater width than those at the top, an inwardly and downwardly extending an-. nular flange at the upper end of theouter cylinder forming a pocket, vertically extending ribs on the inner wall of the outer cylinder, said ribs having their upper ends located adjacent the mouth of the pocket, said.ribs being formed in pairs with the ribs at the center of the cylinder alternately arranged with the ribs at the ends of the cylinder and said ribs being of greater depth than the depth of the riffies and an interrupted worm thread on the inner cylinder.

4. An amalgamator of the class described comprising a casing, a shaft rotatably mounted in the lower part thereof-,-an outer cylinder having its bottom closed, and connected with the shaft, aninner cylinder, an nlet P pe :f r ed ng e mat a to the space betweenthe bottomsof the cylinders, outwardly curved-flanges at the upper ends o h y inde s, m a i o con ec ng s flanges together in spaced relation, a par tition in said casing forming a tailing chanr berfor receiving the material passing from between the flanges, the outer cylinder being of slightly tapered shape with its upper end of less diameter than its bottom portion, horizontally arranged rifiles on the inner 5 wall of said outer cylinder, said riflies gradu- 10 on the end portions, an inwardly and downwardly extending annular flange at the upper end of the outer cylinder forming a pocket and an interrupted worm thread on the outer wall of the inner cylinder.

In testimony whereof we aflix our signa- 15 tures.

RALPH HANSSEN. PEDER B. HAUG. MARTIN E. DARBY. 

